


Reflection and Introspection

by jecooksubether



Series: Tigereans and Weres [11]
Category: Furry (Fandom), Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Gen, Original Fiction, POV First Person, Shapeshifting, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26386585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jecooksubether/pseuds/jecooksubether
Summary: Wherein the author gets lost in thought. (Short)
Series: Tigereans and Weres [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914835





	Reflection and Introspection

**September 11th, 2010**

It had been a quiet Saturday in the embassy’s machine shop- Well, as quiet as an active machine shop that has several projects moving as one would expect. I had been busy earlier in the week with designing a better replacement for the failed motor brackets on the Jeep. The electric motors that I had ordered had **far** more torque then the spec sheet and during the off-road stress test, two of the motors ripped out of their mounting brackets before pulling out from the safety disconnects I had included in the wiring harness. I had put those in for just such an event, and for easier motor servicing. This turned out to be a blessing that allowed us to limp the vehicle back to the shop. After pulling the old mounts, we found that the shop that had fabricated them for us had used low grade aluminum instead of what we had asked for.

After finishing the design, I loaded it into Spaceworks and did stress analysis. It took a few tweaks to the design, but when I got done with it, we had something that in theory we could hang the entire vehicle from one of the new mounts. Granted, in reality the frame sections the mounts were bolted to would tear out first. In any case, we’d need to turn the design into something physical, and since I was barred from using magic, I spent the previous night generating G-code and running simulations on the CNC machine.

As I verified that the billets were loaded and that the CNC machine was ready, I closed the splash door on the CNC machine and cranked it up. I allowed myself to be mesmerized by the robot’s movements, and I started thinking back on the events of the past two months and what today really added to it.

The events of 2001 still stuck in my mind, even 9 years after. While certain groups were glad to see what they considered the giant of the world getting a bloody nose, other groups took it as an opportunity to try and take away the freedoms that other groups saw as our best asset. All I could think of for several months after were all the deaths, how senseless it was, and the over reaction by portions of our own government to what was an insubstantial threat. After the tigereans arrived, I saw their calm reaction and apologies after of one of the same extremist groups managed to acquire and lob a nuke at the trade ship.

The reaction and apologies were simultaneous- the tigereans turned on their PA system which was heard by every living creature with a functional brainstem- 'We apologize for the actions you have forced us to take.' At the same time, the small nuke was lanced in low earth orbit, rendering it completely harmless.

The same lance then fired a second, then third, then fourth time against the launch site and two other targets that the tigereans stated contained the planners and leaders of the group that had started the incident. While nothing was left alive in the impact zone, there was more than enough evidence that proved that it was the work of a large religious group that, while it had it’s moderates, possessed more then it’s fair share of zealots who apparently were holding a 1200+ year old grudge against the other major worldwide religion, with a healthy dose of xenophobia added in for flavor.

I sighed. Religion still had its xenophobia, and its crazies. The last one was almost a month and a half ago, yet the image of the fire and gore-filled sphere still haunted me. While I had been exonerated and even congratulated at limiting the loss of life to just the single person, It still bothered me that humans, my own people, could be that closed minded and easily misled to believing that that tigereans had anything but humanity’s best interests at heart. While they did not have a 100 percent commitment to it (They really were in it for an additional trade partner and the chance to expand their trade empire out more), their efforts to provide assistance was sincere- The medical uplift teams had already made several major breakthroughs against cancer and AIDS once the tigereans provided some additional clues on how to combat those modern scourges.

The CNC machine’s buzzer broke me from my reverie- I had sat there for the better part of three hours in introspection while the machine turned the two blocks of solid aluminum into the four mounts that the jeep’s ludicrously over-spec’’d motors demanded. T’Grlf was also there staring at me, his right ear waving around like a flag as he got my attention. “You’ve been sitting there for a good three minutes while this damn buzzer has been turning me deaf- you gonna shut it off apprentice?”

Slapping the button to shut the buzzer off, I apologized. “I’m sorry master, I was lost in thought. I’ve been thinking about the events of the last three months. In addition, this day is regarded as something of a special day for Americans.”

As he opened the door to the machine and inspected my programmed work, he nodded. “I understand what your country has gone through- I’ve read up on the last 200 years of history as part of my education about your world. I have more experience with religious lunatics then you might realize- I got this scar over my eye from one. Now, these mounts look like I could tow a shuttle from them- they ought to hold against those over-powered motors that company sent us instead of the ones we wanted originally. I’ll give you a hand putting the corrosion-proofing on them, and tomorrow we can get them installed and give it another go on the test track.””

The next day saw the two of us at the ‘test track’ which was the burger joint down the road. As we ate, he congratulated me on the design work and effort. “Don’t ever tell anyone else around the shop about this- As you know, I have the highest of standards, and you of all people know that I expect only the very best. So when I say that I am very pleased at your progress and dedication, I want you to know the gravity of the meaning behind it. As for why I don’t want word of this getting out? I have an image of a hardass to retain, you know.”


End file.
